As Told by Ginger Review/Transcript
Ginger: 'You can't ''demand ''respect, Grimley. You have to ''earn it! And speaking of demands...*is put in detention* (Intro) I remember not being too'' into this show as a kid and I always wondered why, walking into it. I mean, I liked pretty much every other Nicktoon as a kid up to this point, even Doug and ''CatDog. This show came out when I was eight years old, and at that age, you can't really distinguish whether something is good or bad, even to yourself. Sure you can have vague ideas and such and you can definitely point out your favorites, but, at this point in time my logic was: "If it was animated, it was a good show. If it was live-action, it was crap." And yet, As Told by Ginger ''was a little bit of an exception. I mean, a lot of boys were probably hesitant to watch this show because it was clearly aimed at a female audience, more so than any other Nicktoon with the exception of I guess, ''Winx Club ''['Caption: Note: I am not reviewing Winx Club for this marathon] But then again, I did watch shows like The Powerpuff Girls ''back then. So, I didn't know if it would have been "too alien" to me to watch this show. Watching it again as an adult though, I think I can understand why...this one didn't and doesn't resonate with me as it does with some people. And I have to start with the most obvious problem. I know that I've probably been repeating myself on this, but it needs to be said. I do not like the Klasky Csupo art style, and quite honestly, this is their...worst effort. Period. It is the 'worst 'designed Klasky Csupo animation. The show looks 'godawful 'because of these character designs. Every single character design is uncanny as hell. Remember girls, if you use lipstick even once in your life, your mouth will descend to the bottom of your chin, and then they'll balloon and you'll look like a fish for the rest of your life. See what happened to Dodie? The necks are too long, the heads look like potatoes, if the characters are lucky ['Caption: Everyone's silhouette legitimately looks like a rorchach blob']! Everyone looks like they're suffering from an allergic reaction! The eyes are too small, and the way that they do lashes makes each character look like they're in a perpetual state of horror! Even characters doing something as mundane as eating popcorn looks 'so bad, that I need to turn my eyes away because it just looks ''so jarring''! I heard behind the scenes that they had a bunch of concept designs for Ginger and the other characters. Some of them were rejected for being quote-unquote "too pretty," and others were rejected for being "too ugly." God, I-I do not wanna know what uglier than this looks like. Let's just say that they ''badly missed the mark on a good in-between here. However, it has been said that a show with bad writing can't save a show with good animation. But vicea-versa! A show with bad animation '''can 'be saved by good writing. And I suppose that with ''As Told by Ginger, we have a fairly good case study here. Because this show has a ''Hey Arnold! ''reputation of each episode being some of the best storytelling in terms of animation, tackling '''exceptionally difficult topics. So, is this reputation earned? Uh...yes...and...no. ''As Told by Ginger ''definitely deserves a lot of the credit it gets. It has tackled many, ''many ''difficult topics that other cartoons would not dare to. One of the most famous episodes is Ginger writing a sad poem and the adults in her life thinking that she has depression, which is relatable in some of the worst ways. As a kid, I was extremely hesitant to write anything sad or deep for...'that''' exact reason, fearing that the adults in my life would think that I was broken or deranged or some way. Then I learned as I got older that when I was actually depressed, the adults wouldn't give a shit, even if I made it as obvious as possible, so...there's that. The show has tackled other topics too, like puberty and death, and things that you wouldn't experience in most other shows. However, I think that one of the issues with As Told by Ginger ''is that sometimes they bite off a '''lot' more than they could chew. One episode is about puberty, or rather the pituitary gland. It was actually really shocking to actually hear them mention the word "sexy," you know, in a kids' cartoon. However, the episode itself is about Ginger acting incredibly awkward trying to get a boy's affection. As an adult, it's very, very hard to sit through and more for just that popcorn-chewing animation that is going to haunt my nightmares for the rest of my life. The show is very much from a teenager's perspective. And for what it's worth, I do think that it captures their voice very, very well. It-it does it a lot better than...Simple Plan at any rate. The problem of the matter is that for many, many ''people, adolescence is a time that they'd...rather forget. Bodies changing awkwardly, trying to navigate the world all around you, having all of these new responsibilities, your parents expect you to act like an adult, while only having the privileges of a child. And many, many other '''great '''things that make adolescence hell. If anyone tells you that high school is the best time of your life, they're lying ['Caption: Or very, very sad people.]. And honestly I think that might have been why I wasn't into this show as a kid. Like I said, I was like eight when it came out. And the drama of a typical teenager is...not something that I would have been interested in. By the time that I was old enough to relate to this show, it wasn't on anymore. And well, now I'm ''too old to really relate to it. I get that some people do look back fondly on this portion of their life, after all, Big Mouth ''is popular for some reason, but it's something that I just 'cannot 'stand. During the Ginger segments of the episodes, I was quite honestly bored, as an adult. Not as much as ''Doug, thank God, but, "typical teenager" doesn't really do much in terms of a character for me. And that's...the best way to describe...Ginger. Has crush, has friends, tries to get good grades, generally quite unpopular, wants to be popular. Rinse and repeat, you'll see this on every single Disney Channel sitcom forever. And I think that's my main problem here. The stories and the concepts they pick are unique and incredibly daring, but the characters? Not so much. I mean, Hey Arnold! ''had a pretty boring main character, but the other characters were able to shine. And when it comes down to it, I would rather watch unique and sparkling personalities go through mundane scenarios than mundane characters going through unique and sparkling scenarios. The characters in Ginger's life range from "forgettable" to "downright despicable." I can '''barely '''remember Macie's name. I don't know why she's in this show at all. Now, I haven't seen every single episode, but from what I have seen she has contributed nothing whatsoever, but jokes about being nasally and having allergies, and I've seen that before. And then there's Dodie. Dodie is the '''worst. The fact that I may have to change "the Craig" to "the Dodie." Dodie has nothing 'redeemable about her whatsoever. Seriously, she might take the crown from Craig as a friend who has nothing to offer and is just a parasitic drain on the lives of everyone around them. Yes Dodie, it's a great idea for your career to publicly name and shame every kid who has lice. I'm sure that'll make you popular as hell, you '''PSYCHOPATH! '''That's her most infamous showcase, but Jesus Christ! If she has had an episode or an appearance that has come close to passable, I have not seen it! And I don't think that I will. Also, once again, she looks like a fish! One of the only characters that manages to rise up to a point of interest is Courtney. She's this rich girl who seems to have like, a fascination with Ginger. It's definitely a rather interesting and a unique take on the "spoiled, rich kid" trope. Usually in shows like this, they're just incredibly popular, and just completely ignore the main character kid, but no, Courtney kind of almost behaves like a...zoologist towards Ginger. It-it's definitely interesting, at the very least...The problem is that she hangs out with Miranda. Miranda is ''Mean Girls. You can get the same experience of watching her as you can get from watching that movie. However, there is the set of characters in this show that I really ''did ''like, and that was Carl and Hoodsey. I found their plots '''consistently interesting. Carl is this kid who's into gross things, and is always in dark operations with his schoolmates, usually Blake, doing things like high school negotiations. It feels like a more serious version of the Kids Next Door, and it takes me back to my initial point. Carl and his stories are what you'd see in ''any other ''Nicktoon at the time. Meanwhile, Ginger and her stories are taking all of these ''huge ''chances. However, because Carl is an interesting character, I'm so much more invested in his stories than I am in Ginger. Despite her taking on stories that I will say again, are very much commendable. It seems to be a trap these shows keep falling into. First Doug, then Hey Arnold!, and now Ginger. Remember. Making "the everyman" or "everyteen" or whatever, does not mean '''to make the character relatable to literally ''every ''single person. What'll happen there is that you'll end up removing any sense of an '''actual personality. You won't have a character; you'll have the lowest common denominator, because this is what lowest common denominator actually means. Remember, Homer Simpson was originally designed to be an "everyman," and he still kind of is. But even in his early seasons when he wasn't stupid as hell and incredibly violent, you could understand his personality and it set him apart from every other cartoon father everyman. I understand that Homer Simpson was originally meant to be subversive so it might be a bad example. Uh, Hank Hill is another everyman who manages to hold his own as a character. I mean he's meant to be the relatable guy, but you know plenty of things that about him that are unique to him. There are things about the character that you can remember right off the bat after watching only a few episodes of King of the Hill. When it comes to Ginger though, I barely remember anything about her, and I don't think I've seen one thing that isn't...a part of every other teenage girl that I've seen in every other piece of media ever. And this is a major problem, especially when you wanna do a show about 'heavy-duty '''subject matter. It's not that they tackle the topics with disrespect or anything like that. The actual issues they go through are portrayed quite well. But doing it so...stoically, can make it...hard to really...pay attention. It's clearly another show in the camp of "I respect it a lot more than I like it," because...this one is clearly not up my alley. '''Announcer: '''Coming up next on Nickelodeon... ''(Shows clip of Fairly Oddparents theme song) (End Credits Theme: "It's Not Too Sweet", the Canada Dry Ginger Ale jingle) Category:Nick-o-Rama Category:Transcripts